If you had so many issues why did you continue buying from them? I’ve had my Bean boots for over 25 years- still in great shape! I think the new policy is fair and I will continue to buy from them.
One year is reasonable. Sorry to read of the new $50 minimum for free shipping, though.
We were very impressed with Jansport’s lifetime warranty. My daughter’s backpack zipper broke last year. We had to pay to mail it to Jansport, but they replaced the zipper and returned the backpack to us free of charge.
@leftrightleft , because of the warranty. All of the manufacturers use similar materials, it is more a matter of who stands behind them best. They are probably made in the same factories too.
Really? Who do you see as LLBean competitors? Is Eddie Bauer a fair competitor? REI? Are either of those really cheaper at original price? I don’t think so.
What you see on the surface does not necessarily represent the quality or non-quality construction of an item.
LL Bean “imports” (aka manufactures abroad) many of their items but the boots are still made in Maine.
A few years back I bought a Cuisinart egg slicer at Tuesday Morning. After a year or so, some of the metal slicing strings broke. I went on their online customer service and filled out a form asking if there was any way to repair or replace the strings. No answer for a couple of weeks and boy was I annoyed. Then out of the blue one day, a new slicer arrived in the mail. Yay!
Mephisto also has a lifetime guarantee. Not sure how that works. The salesperson told me if the sole wears out, all I need to do is send it to them and they will fix it.
I returned a two year old pair of those wicked slippers that I received as a gift (no receipt). The fleece on the inside had worn down to the bare leather…and they weren’t even warm anymore.
They sent me a brand new pair.
I think their policy is reasonable…as long as they still offer repair services for things like jacket zippers…at a reasonable cost.
Well…a LOT of us got new blades for our 35 year old Cuisenart food processors! That was amazing!
I think a one year return policy is fine.
^^^The Cuisinart blade was due to a defect. If they hadn’t replaced it, they would have been liable. But yeah – 35 years is a long time!
I’ll always buy LL Bean. You may be interested to know that the Bean flagship store in Freeport, ME has no locks on the doors. They don’t need them. They are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. When the founder of LL Bean passes away they needed to go to the hardware store to buy chains and padlocks to secure the building for the funeral. It’s the only time they’ve ever closed.
Also remember, LLBean is not a product line representing ONE product - like a brand of shoe or a small appliance. They have clothes, shoes, camping gear, shoes, sporting equipment, luggage, home goods, pet supplies - even live greenery! So you are not just saying “guarantee” on one variety of product but an entire store.
@abasket, yes, many companies have similar supply chains. Everything is made in Asia and tends to follow lower labor costs. Shoes once made in the US went to China, and now are made in Vietnam or Bangladesh. High Tech fabrics and insulation are made by (or licensed by) a small number of firms.
Designs differ, obviously, and we never buy anything full price. I’d be dishonoring my ancestors if I did. So the full price argument is moot for us and most of the items produced are commodities. More money is spent in branding and marketing than the cost of goods in many cases.
I buy Ugg slippers. I wear them all the time when I’m home about 7 months out of the year. They last about two years before I wear through the fleece. It would never occur to me to think of them as defective or really to do anything but buy a new pair. I use them the way they were intended, and wear them out.
I agree. It would never occur to me to return a pair of 2 year old slippers which had been worn out.
However, I want to mention that the quality of LL Bean products had gone down, fleece tops are thinner, corduroy pants I just bought are thinner so I imagine they don’t think their products are made to last nowadays hence the change in policy as well.
LL Bean’s quality isn’t what it used to be and seems to be slipping more over time. I had a pair of boots that lasted over 20 years— finally the top of one boot split open, so I bought a new pair. After 1 season the soles had visibly more wear than my old boots. Their slippers used to last for 5 years or more, but the last 2 pairs I got wore out quickly. I actually returned my last pair, which disintegrated in under 2 years (fleece lining had holes inside of 3 months). They didn’t even want to know why I was returning them. I admit I wouldn’t have returned them if I didn’t know how much they had dropped in quality. I paid $20 extra for slippers from Overland, and they seem much better-made (so far)!
I have personally witnessed (we have an L.L. Bean outlet in my town) people returning their wicked good Mocs (slippers) that had obviously been worn outside, in the rain/snow/mud, been worn while painting, etc. Every single time, they were given a new pair (the clerks would roll their eyes - you could tell they knew they weren’t defective). Drove me crazy! My entire family has worn their Mocs for years; when they gets holes after a couple of years of constant use, we buy new ones.
My husband was aghast when our next door neighbor returned a pair of 28 year old duck boots for a new pair because the tread was wearing down. You got your money’s worth! Buy a new pair!
^^^That’s why their quality had to come down, so they could keep their profit margin. All of those returns ate into their margins. It is a vicious circle. They are at the point of having to sell lower quality goods in order to keep their margins, and then they are going to lose their long time customers because of quality. If LL Bean doesn’t correct itself quickly, it is going to become another has-beens.
The only thing I sent back was a dog bed that was warranted to be indestructible. It took my Golden a couple of years, but he ripped it up! They took it back and sent a new one. I didn’t return the 2nd one after it got shredded.
I forgot to mention that I think Patagonia will still repair or replace their merchandise.